THIS WEEKENDFor the third consecutive weekend, Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone topped the North American box
office despite a strong second-place debut by the military action film
Behind Enemy Lines. Potter
and Disney's Monsters, Inc. both crossed
the $200M mark over the weekend making them the fourth and fifth films
this year to reach that distinguished level.

Once again, Harry
Potter led the way at theaters with $23.6M, according to final
studio figures, falling a hefty 59% from last weekend's Thanksgiving holiday
frame. The Warner Bros. hit averaged $6,439 per theater (second-best in
the top ten) and has raised its cume to a massive $219.7M in just 17 days.
While Harry Potter set new industry
records for best first and second weekend grosses, it could not break the
benchmark for largest third weekend gross which is still held by Titanic
with $33.3M. Potter now sits at number
26 on the all-time domestic blockbusters list between last summer's Rush
Hour 2 ($225.7M) and 1993's Mrs. Doubtfire
($219.2M).

After demolishing box office records in its
first two weeks, Harry Potter is now
slowing down its pace. A final gross in the vicinity of $300M now seems
likely. Last year this weekend, How the Grinch
Stole Christmas dropped a slimmer 48% in its third frame and
raised its 17-day total to $172M, or 66% of its eventual $260M haul. With
its holiday theme, Grinch remained
extremely strong throughout December. The slowing Potter
may not have the same legs during the holiday season due to its larger
weekly declines - especially with the December 19 bow of The
Lord of the Rings on the horizon.

Gunning down the number two spot was Fox's
Navy rescue film Behind Enemy Lines
which took in a strong $18.7M in its opening weekend. Playing in 2,770
theaters, the PG-13 film averaged a solid $6,764 per venue giving it the
best average in the top ten. Enemy stars
Owen Wilson as a downed U.S. pilot in Bosnia and Gene Hackman as the commanding
officer who leads the rescue efforts.

Fox took a chance and moved the release date
of the $40M film from January 18 to the post-Thanksgiving slot. With holiday
shopping distracting adults and exam season preoccupying students, studios
have mostly left the weekend after the Thanksgiving frame open. In fact,
the last movie to generate a powerful opening on this weekend was Star
Trek VI ten years ago when it launched with $18.2M and a $10,068
average. With Fox's successful test, other studios may begin programming
films into the post-Turkey slot in the coming years.

"We couldn't be happier," remarked
Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder who noted the importance of being
the first of a handful of war films in the coming months to reach theaters.
Adult men made up the core audience with 54% male and 54% being 25 or older.
Moviegoers were generally pleased with Behind
Enemy Lines as those polled by CinemaScore gave the action picture
a B+. The studio's own exit polls had 80% marking the film "excellent"
or "very good" and those saying they would definitely recommend
the picture rated in the "high 60 percent range," according to
Snyder.

Robert Redford and Brad Pitt held steady
in third place with the thriller Spy Game
which grossed $11M in its second weekend. Down a reasonable 49% from the
holiday weekend, the Universal release has taken in $46.7M in 12 days.
With a $90M production cost, Spy Game
should find its way to $70-75M domestically and could soar to a higher
gross in international territories.

Disney and Pixar watched their blockbuster
hit Monsters, Inc. cross the $200M
mark on Saturday, its 30th day of release, with a weekend take of $9.1M.
Now standing tall with $204M, the animated comedy ranks 35th on the list
of all-time domestic blockbusters between The
Exorcist's lifetime cume of $204.6M and last May's The
Mummy Returns with $202M.

Dropping 49% to fifth place was the Martin
Lawrence comedy Black Knight with $5.5M
and a 12-day total of $22.8M. Budgeted at roughly $35M, the Fox release
should find its way to $35-40M. The studio's other November comedy, Shallow
Hal, placed sixth with $4.5M, down 47%, for a cume of $61.1M.

Buena Vista's snowboarding pic Out
Cold declined only 40% to $2.7M for a sum of $10.3M after 12
days. The PG-13 film should reach $18-20M. John Travolta took eighth place
with Domestic Disturbance which grossed
$1.9M in its fifth weekend for a $42.4M total.

The French-language comedy Amelie
powered its way into the top ten despite playing in a mere 218 theaters
with a weekend gross of $1.4M. Averaging a solid $6,232 in its fifth weekend
of limited release, the Miramax title has upped its cume to an impressive
$9.8M. Amelie joins an elite group
of foreign-language films to have cracked the top ten at the North American
box office including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
and Life is Beautiful. Both of those
films won the Oscar for foreign-lingo pic. But that wasn't the only remarkable
achievement for Amelie this weekend.
The Jean-Pierre Jeunet picture also won Best Film and Best Director at
the annual European Film Awards held in Berlin on Saturday.

Rounding out the top ten was the action drama
Heist with Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito
which collected $1.2M, off 62%, for a $22M overall haul.

In limited release, Miramax opened the long-delayed
western Texas Rangers and grossed a
pitiful $319,516. Playing in 402 theaters, the Dylan McDermott-James Van
Der Beek film averaged an embarrassing $795 per venue. Warner Bros. went
into 18 theaters in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and San Francisco with
the period piece The Affair of the Necklace
which grossed $125,523. Averaging $6,974 per site, the Warner Bros. film
stars Oscar winner Hilary Swank and attracted mixed reviews.

A pair of films dropped out of the top ten
over the weekend. New Line's Life as a House
took in $1.1M, down 48%, for a $13.8M total on its way to $16-18M. Jet
Li's sci-fi actioner The One tumbled
63% to $772,858 for a $43.1M cume. The $75M Sony release should end up
with just under $45M.

Paramount Classics expanded the Ed Burns
film Sidewalks of New York from 99
to 208 theaters and collected $608,572. The romantic comedy averaged a
mild $2,926 per site and has grossed $1.4M in 12 days.

The top ten films grossed
$79.7M which was even with last year when How
the Grinch Stole Christmas remained in the top spot with $27.1M;
and up 16% from 1999 when Toy Story 2 stayed
at number one with $27.8M.

Compared to projections, Behind
Enemy Lines opened close to my $17M forecast.

Take this week's NEW
Reader Survey on the opening weekend
gross of Ocean's Eleven.
In last week's survey, readers were asked which of five December releases
they wanted to see the most. Of 1,507 responses, 38% picked Ocean's
Eleven, 18% selected Vanilla
Sky, 17% said The
Majestic, 15% voted for Ali,
and 12% picked Not Another Teen Movie.

This column is updated three times each week
: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary),
Sunday (post-weekend analysis with
estimates), and Monday night (actuals).
Data source : Exhibitor Relations,
EDI. Opinions expressed in this column
are those solely of the author.